Sands of Time
by Truly Original
Summary: Six years their first impressions the enigmatic, business man named Nagato and the comparatively innocent, young doctor named Sakura meet again. A romance told through a series of telling incidences. Nagato(Pein)/Sakura
1. Chapter 1

1 This is just a short little prologue for a story that had been whirling around in the dark recesses of my brain for the better part of six months. Now that I decided to put the depictive pen to paper updates will be erratic, written down when I can find the time to. I apologize in advance for any long periods of time between chapters. Also, I do not have a beta and though I wish I were I am not perfect. Any mistypes are wholly my own

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If you do not like the Pein-Sakura pairing you are free to not read this story. Constructive criticism is welcome. Flaming is not and I have no qualms in reporting that kind of childish, pathetic behavior to the monitors. Thank You.

(A.N.) I almost forgot this: Naruto does not belong to me and therefore am not receiving any gain from writing it, other that the gratification of my muse. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto and his affiliates. I am just borrowing them to amuse myself.

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: Prologue:

A small, almost undetectable, frown crossed Nagato (Pein) Hanazawa's face as he listened to the message left on his voice mail. The detective stuttered as he spoke of his failure to locate one Haruno, Sakura. His voice breaking slightly as he spoke. A tell. That the man was frightened of him would have amused him if he wasn't so irritated. Nagato was not by nature a destructive man, but the continued failure of the men he paid to track down the petite, green eyed, pink haired woman was pushing his good nature to a rapid decline. He pulled the cell away from his ear, thumb taping the screen gently to turn it off.

He made a mental note to tell his secretary to dismiss the detective tomorrow and to find him another one. That was twelve investigators that he had been through so far. If he didn't know better, he would think that the high school girl who used to bring a pair of underfed, malnourished college students food had died before he had the chance to find her.

Pein's jaw clenched in a moment of aggravation. How could one woman be so hard to find? He leaned back against the leather of his office chair, head back and eyes closed. His mind began to filter through all of the things that he knew of her.

The Sakura that he remembered had been intelligent, feisty, and beautiful. She had been an excellent cook. She had wrinkled her cute little nose in distaste, though, when his college roommate, Konan, had mentioned her going into culinary school. "I don't actually _enjoy _cooking," she had said. "The only reason I do it now is 'cause Mama has to work a lot and I can't afford to hire someone to do it for me."

She laughed. He remembered her laugh well. It had come from deep in her throat and was husky and innately seductive, at odds with her air of innocence. It was a laugh that made every man in the area sit up and pay attention; despite the fact that the young woman still had a year to go before she was no longer jailbait.

It had been one of the few times she actually sat at their table to eat with them, although she gave them large plastic containers overflowing of food at least three times a week. (Often she would have to give them the lid off of the bowls and tell them to eat some so that they could put it in the refrigerator.) For some reason she had accepted their invitation that time and as soon as the meal was done had begun to straiten up the table, picking up dirty dishes and moving to put them in the kitchen. Pein had stopped her and intercepted the dishes, carrying them the rest of the way. Sakura had always been tidy, cleaning up after herself.

It didn't escape his notice that Sakura put extra work into making extra food for the both of them. She did something she disliked just to help them out. That hadn't escaped his notice either. The only way that she could prepare the large amounts of extra food, so many times a week, was if she had purposely set out to do it.

Although, it went against the grain to have to rely on the help of another the both Konan and he were grateful. Many times during their lives did they go without eating and it was hardly a comfortable feeling. It had been amusing that Sakura would try to cushion their pride with her little white lies. It hadn't been necessary. They would not have turned away her acts of kindness, but all the same he had appreciated her extra effort.

By the time the dishes had been rinsed off and stuck in the dishwasher the two females had moved to the living room and were talking about the future. "My Aunt Tsunade is one of the greatest . in the country," Sakura had been saying when he walked in. "I've always wanted to follow in her footsteps."

That last memory snapped him out of his stroll down memory lane. M.D. Doctor. A pleased look crossed his face as he quickly punched the detective's number into his phone. Nagato would give the shaky little investigator another chance. He was after all a generally benevolent man.

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(A month later.)

Sakura hissed as she lay back on the sidewalk. She had been running full tilt trying to get to the trolley in time to make the last train. When she had turned the corner she smacked into and bounced off a large person who was heading in the opposite direction. Her first reaction was to snap at the person, but reason returned. More than pain, she hated to apologize for snapping at someone for something that was clearly her fault.

She bit back a curse as she moved. Her back screamed in protest against even the slightest movement. The young, pink haired woman hurt all over. The pain in her front was oddly reminiscent of what running into a brick wall would have felt like and her backside twinged from where it struck the sidewalk. Her head had cracked hard against the cement; pain radiated from the area of contact.

A groan escaped her as she moved to push her self up and discovered a large hand suddenly appearing in her eye-line. She took it, apologizing for running into the person as they hauled her to her feet easily. Her mouth opened to thank the human wall only to have her jaw drop open and bottle green eyes widen in surprise and recognition.

Of all the people she would have thought she'd have run into today (literally) Nagato would have been the last. She stood gawking for a few moments. The last time she had seen him, was six years ago before she had moved to start her four years in med school and at that point he had been thinner. Unhealthily thin.

The man had to work two part time jobs to pay for his college classes, the roof over his head, and all of the essentials that came with daily living. Unfortunately, even though he had a roommate, sometimes (a lot of the time) the price of living would be too high and in order to pay his rent, school bills, utilities, and other miscellaneous mulcts he'd have had to go with out some of the more basic necessities (like food).

Sakura, who lived in the apartment next door with her Mother, had been in love with him all through her high school years. She'd noticed his struggle to keep himself fed of course. The love struck teenager had noticed everything about the handsome college student. In order to make sure that Nagato didn't die on her before she was legal, she would always be "trying out new recipes for dinner." All of which were, conveniently, created for large families of six or more. "Because there was no way that Mom and I will be able to eat it all before it goes bad", she had taken the extra food next door and practically forced it on them.

Sakura always suspected they knew what she had been doing, but they never mentioned it. He, or Konan, had just politely accepted the large dishes full of food and after the door closed, set about eating it. Either because they recognized the need to eat as being more important than their pride or because they had chosen to accept said food so as to not hurt her feelings, she wasn't sure.

The two of them were quietly proud and, although they didn't turn away the help, the two to of them had tried to repay her in the ways they were able. Like the time she had to go grocery shopping and the elevator had broken down. Nagato and Konan had seen her struggling with all of her bags and had taken the load off of her hands. Or the time her garbage disposal had met its untimely end. He had overheard her calling a plumber and came over to replace it himself instead.

As, she stared at the slightly older version of the man she once knew, the thought passed through her head that, 'he was even more attractive than he had been.' His sharply angled features were no longer unhealthily thin. Eating more (she assumed) had filled out the hollow spaces of his face and it no longer had the gaunt look that came with malnutrition. His, expensive looking, slate colored sweater pulled nicely over hard muscles where before it would have hung of off his frame It was the result, she was sure, that came from a proper intake of proteins.

His hair was the same as it had been, although perhaps a little shorter. Even now his titan orange locks spiked out all over his head. Pein's eyes would never change. They were still a beautiful grey and lined with grey light grey rings that started from the pupil and spread out into the white of his eyes. It had always reminded her of the time her mother took her to the lake and she had dropped a rock into the water. The way the water had rippled out from the point of contact was the same way the rings seemed to be. His pretty eyes were surrounded by lashes that she was envious of. Long and thick they had cast prominent shadows on his high cheek bones when his eyelids lowered.

His face, although filled out and sharpened with maturity, was still covered with piercings. Two just below a full, sensuous mouth and three sets of two along the bridge of his patrician nose.

One of his brows rose slightly as he finished his own blatant perusal of her appearance. Sakura turned bright red when she realized that she was still gaping at him. With some effort she lifted her jaw up off of the ground. She tried to untwist her tongue enough to greet him. But, he managed to first. "Hello, Sakura."

Hear heart leapt was dancing in her chest the same way it had years ago. She had been heart broken when her older next-door neighbors had graduated college, with honors, and moved away to one of the larger cities to find work. Although she was older, more jaded, and experienced she still felt the same way she had when she way a fluff brained teenage girl, seeing her crush after so many twelvemonths.

"Um, hi."

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For those who have never heard of the term twelvemonth it means a year. Reviews make even vagrant writers happy. So please do. Thank you for reading.


	2. Hunger

1 Okay, so between work and running around, like a chicken with my head cut off, for the holiday season, I barely had any time to think much less write. During that time I received a slight reprieve and decided, instead of making this a full blown chapter fic, that I'd make it a series of interconnected one shots. This is mostly because, as I stated in the prologue, I don't always have the time to write gratuitously long chapters. I apologize to anyone who expected more.

(Insert standard disclaimer here.)

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:Hunger:

Sakura couldn't help but stare. When she accepted Pein's offer for dinner she had been under the impression that they would be going to a Denny's or maybe an Olive Garden. For some odd reason, even after she saw the Viper he drove, all gleaming black and smelling of leather and money, she hadn't been expecting to go here. Now that they stood in the lobby of the restaurant he had chosen and she felt amazingly self-conscious.

The Compte was the most expensive place in town. Only the disgustingly wealthy dined here and, even then, only on special occasions. This was the kind of restaurant that had a dress code and here she stood in an old Yale sweater and a comfy pair of jeans that she had thrown on after she got off work.

Obviously, her dinner companion didn't care that she was under-dressed. Nagato's slow once over had proven that, if he still brought her here. She did, however. Everything _he _wore screamed money. This outfit was obviously his casual look but, she was pretty sure that the cologne he wore was called Ode de Bottomless Bank Account. This was embarrassing. Even though she was a successful doctor, one of the most respected in the business- despite her age- she felt like a street urchin. All that was needed was a little copper cup and sign to fly.

Although she wasn't aware of her discomfort showing in her posture, Nagato, who was keenly aware of everything she did, noticed. Her shoulders had drawn up near her ears and sweater covered arms wrapped around herself in a protective gesture. Her pretty eyes were lowered to focus on her brightly cover sneakers. A garish flush, somehow far less appealing than her earlier blushes, stained her fair skin. She felt shamed; his realization came with a frown.

The fact that the woman, who as a girl helped little old ladies home with their groceries -even if it was out of her way-, that built a shelter out back for the stray animals in the neighborhood during the winter, and who fed poor college students when they didn't have the money to eat, felt humiliation, disturbed him. Never, did he want her to feel less than what she was. Protective instincts, that had only shown themselves in regards to a choice few, decided to make an impression.

A firm hand cupped her elbow, startling her. Before she could turn to face him he leaned down to whisper in her ear, his warm breath-which smelled of spearmint, fanning her neck and jawline. "The girl I remember is worth ten times more than the clientele who frequent here, no matter her dress. However, if there is someplace else that you prefer, that you feel more comfortable in, I am willing to take you." The faint spicy scent of his cologne reached her nose and she had to fight the urge to wrap her arms around the man and bury her face in his neck and inhale.

Sakura's face grew pink for an entirely different reason. She relaxed as her appearance and their location slipped from her mind and the whole of her focus narrowed on him. She turned just far enough to look at him and gave a small, but genuine smile. "No. Here is fine."

She watched as his gaze did a slow drift down to her lips before raising to look into her eyes. Heat flooded her body and her pulse quickened. The look she found there made clear his desire.

"Good."

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Caramel covered, sugar cookies anyone? Please review.


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